"Ancient Stageira
the birthplace of Aristotle"

by Dr. Kostas Sismanidis

Dr. Sismanidis led the first systematic archaeological excavations of Stageira, which began in 1990.

His illustrated 20-page booklet contains a brief history
of Stageira and Olympiada and provides a useful guide
to the main features of the archaeological site.

The booklet includes a plan of the site
and photos of finds which are in the
Archaeological Museum of Polygyros.

31. Justin on Philip II of Macedon

Justin, whose full name is thought to have been Marcus Junianus Justinus, was a Roman historian about whose life nothing is known. Even the dates of his life are uncertain, with various theories placing him somewhere between the 2nd to the end of 4th century AD.

He described his work Historiarum Philippicarum libri XLIV as a selection of extracts - "whatever was most worthy of being known" - (hence the title Epitome) from the 44-volume Historiae philippicae et totius mundi origines et terrae situs, a lost work written by Pompeius Trogus during the reign of Emperor Augustus (ruled 27 BC-14 AD). Historiae philippicae dealt with the rise and fall of the Macedonian monarchy, in particular the exploits of Philip II and his son Alexander the Great, and is also known from quotations used by Pliny the Elder and other writers.

"The states of Greece, while each sought to gain the sovereignty of the country for itself, lost it as a body. Striving intemperately to ruin one another, they did not perceive, till they were oppressed by another power, that what each lost was a common loss to all; for Philip, king of Macedonia, looking, as from a watch-tower, for an opportunity to attack their liberties, and fomenting their contentions by assisting the weaker, obliged victors and vanquished alike to submit to his royal yoke."

32. Plutarch: Philip II appoints Aristotle as tutor to Alexander and rebuilds Stageira

"...[Philip] sent for the most famous and learned of philosophers, Aristotle, and paid him a noble and appropriate tuition-fee. The city of Stageira, that is, of which Aristotle was a native, and which he had himself destroyed, he peopled again, and restored to it those of its citizens who were in exile or slavery."

Plutarch, The Parallel Lives; The Life of Alexander, (Part 1 of 7), chapters 7-8. Translated by Bernadotte Perrin. Loeb Classical Library, Harvard University Press, 1919.
At Bill Thayer's LacusCurtius: Into the Roman World website, University of Chicago.

33. Pliny the Elder: Alexander the Great rebuilds Stageira

"It was the same conqueror, too, who gave directions that the descendants and house of the poet Pindar should be spared, at the taking of Thebes. He likewise rebuilt the native city of Aristotle, uniting to the extraordinary brilliancy of his exploits this speaking testimony of his kindliness of disposition."

Pliny the Elder (23-79 AD), The Natural History, Book 7, chapter 30. Translated by John Bostock, H.T. Riley. Taylor and Francis, London, 1855. At Perseus Digital Library.

The translation of Philemon Holland concurs with that above:

"The same prince, when he took Thebes, commanded that the dwelling-house and family of the poet Pindar should be spared. He refounded the native place (patria) of Aristotle the philosopher; and so mingled a kind testimony for one who threw light on all things in the world."

Pliny's Natural History in thirty-seven books, Volume I; Book VII, chapter 29. A translation on the basis of that by Dr. Philemon Holland, ed. 1601. Printed for the Wernerian Club by G. Barclay, London, 1847-48. At the Internet Archive.

However yet another translation is more vague on the subject:

"Alexander also gave orders at the sack of Thebes for the household and home of the poet Pindar to be spared; and he felt the native place of the philosopher Aristotle to be his own, and blended that evidence of kindliness with all the glory of his exploits."

Pliny's Natural History, Book VII, chapter 29. Translated by H. Rackham, W.H.S. Jones, D.E. Eichholz. Published in 10 volumes by Harvard University Press, Massachusetts and William Heinemann, London, 1949-54. The entire work on one web-page, with a good clear layout, at Jon Lange's fascinating masseiana.org.

34. Plutarch: Aristotle restores Stageira

"And what the pleasures of Aristotle, when he rebuilt his native city Stagira, then levelled with the ground, and brought back its exiled inhabitants?"

Plutarch, Non posse suaviter vivi secundum Epicurum, section 15 (That it is not possible to live pleasurably according to the doctrine of Epicurus). Plutarch's Morals. English translation, edted by William W. Goodwin. Little, Brown, and Company, Cambridge, MA, 1874. At Perseus Digital Library.

"Some there are who blame Callisthenes * for sailing to Alexander in hopes to obtain the rebuilding of Olynthus, as Aristotle had procured that of Stagira."

* Callisthenes of Olynthus (Καλλισθένης, circa 360-328 BC), great nephew of Aristotle, accompanied Alexander on his Asian campaign as an official (embedded) historian. Alexander later had him put in prison where he died.

Plutarch, De Stoicorum repugnantiis, section 20 (Contradictions of the Stoics).

"What value then, think you, would they have put upon it, if they had done such an act as Aristotle did, who procured the restoration and rebuilding of Stagira, the town of his nativity, after it had been destroyed by King Philip?"

Plutarch, Adversus Colotem, section 33 (Against Colotes, disciple and favourite of Epicurus).

All extracts available at Perseus Digital Libray.

35. Diogenes Laertius: Aristotle's part in rebuilding Stageira

Diogenes Laertius (Διογένης Λαέρτιος, Diogenes Laertios, circa 3rd century AD), about whose life nothing is known, was the author of Lives and Opinions of Eminent Philosophers (Βίοι καὶ γνῶμαι τῶν ἐν φιλοσοφίᾳ εὐδοκιμησάντων), one of the most important ancient sources on the history of Greek philosophy.

"Next that he [Aristotle] stayed in Macedonia at Philip's court and received from him his son Alexander as his pupil; that he petitioned Alexander to restore his native city which had been destroyed by Philip and obtained his request; and that he also drew up a code of laws for the inhabitants."

36. Claudius Aelianus: Aristotle's part in rebuilding Stageira

Claudius Aelianus (Κλαύδιος Αἰλιανός; circa 175-235 AD), usually referred to as Aelian, was a Roman author and teacher of rhetoric, born at Praeneste (today Palestrina), 35 km east of Rome, who flourished during the reign of Emperor Septimius Severus. He is known as the author of two surviving works in Greek, usually referred to by their titles in Latin: De Natura Animalium (On the Nature of Animals; Greek, Περὶ Ζῴων Ἰδιότητος), and Varia Historia (Various History; Greek, Ποικίλη Ἱστορία), which has survived in an abridged form. Both books consist of miscellaneous articles and anecdotes.

Various History, Book 3, chapter 17 is entitled: "That Philosophy is not inconsistent with Political Government, and that some Philosophers have governed Commonwealths."

"Some Philosophers have governed States, though studying onely the good of their own minds they lived privately ... Aristotle, when his Country was not declining, but quite dejected, raised her up again."

Claudius Aelianus, His Various History, Book 3, chapter 17. Translated by Thomas Stanley. Thomas Dring, London, 1665. At James Eason's website, Penelope, University of Chicago.

"Aristotle willing to appease Alexander's Anger, and to quiet him being much incensed, wrote thus to him; 'Rage and Anger is not towards Equals, but towards Superiours; but to you no man is Equal.'

Aristotle advising Alexander in such things as were fit to be done, did benefit many persons; by this means he re-edified his own City, which had been razed by Philip."

Claudius Aelianus, His Various History, Book 12, chapter 54: How Aristotle endeavoured to appease Alexander's Anger (same edition and source).

For some reason, Aelian also considered a law of Stageira worth a mention:

"This was a Law of the Stagirites, truly becoming the Greeks; What you laid not down, take not away."

37. Dio Chrysostom: Aristotle, "founder of his fatherland"

Dio Chrysostom (Δίων Χρυσόστομος, circa 40-120 AD), an orator from Prusa, Asia Minor.

"And I used to envy Aristotle at times because, being a native of Stageira – Stageira was a village in the territory of Olynthus – and having become the teacher of Alexander and an acquaintance of Philip's after the capture of Olynthus, he brought it about that Stageira was resettled, and they used to say that he alone had had the good fortune to become founder of his fatherland. But meanwhile, quite recently, I came upon a letter in which he exhibits a change of heart and laments, saying that some of these settlers are trying to corrupt, not only the king, but also the satraps who came there, so as to thwart any good outcome and to prevent entirely the resettlement of the city."

38. Dr. Sismanidis' investigations of the ancient mining area at Stageira

See: Nikos Axarlis, Gold and Aristotle. Archaeology magazine, December 17, 2001. Archaeological Institute of America.

39. Muhammad al-Idrisi on Alexander's conquest of Socotra

Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi al-Qurtubi al-Hasani al-Sabti (commonly known as Al Idrisi or Edrisi, 1099–1165/1166), a Moroccan Muslim traveller, geographer, cartographer and Egyptologist, born in Ceuta. He worked at the court of the Norman king Roger II (1095-1154, king of Sicily 1130-1154) in Sicily, where he wrote his geographical compendium Kitab nuzhat al-mushtaq fi'khtiraq al-'afaq (The book of pleasant journeys into faraway lands), known in Latin as De geographia universali.

The translation by Pierre Amédée Jaubert (1779-1847) from Arabic into French:
Géographie d'Édrisi, traduite de l'Arabe en Francais par P. Amédée Jaubert, Tome premier, Premier climat, Sixième Section, pages 45-48. Recueil de voyages et de mémoires, Tome cinquième. Publié par la Société de Géographie. Chez Arthus Bertrand, Libraire de la Société. l'Imprimerie Royale, Paris, 1836.

40. Olympias

Olympias (Ὀλυμπιάς, circa 375-316 BC), also known as Olympiada (Ολυμπιάδα), was an Epirote princess, daughter of the Molossian king Neoptolemus I of Epirus (northwestern Greece). She married Philip in 357 BC. It is said that she was originally named Polyxena (Πολυξένη) but changed her name to Myrtale (Μυρτάλη) before marrying Philip, and that she received the name Olympias after Philip's horse won at the Olympic Games in 356 BC, the same year as Alexander's birth. From around 317 BC, probably following to her victory over Eurydike II of Macedon, she became known as Stratonike (Στρατονίκη) (Plutarch, Moralia 401B).

In the photo above she is depicted on the obverse of a gold medallion struck in the early-mid 3rd century AD, found in Abukir, Egypt in 1902. The reverse side shows a Nereid, possibly Thetis, riding a sea monster, thought to be a reference to Thetis as the mother of the Homeric hero Achilles, and thus associating the mythological figures with Olympias and her son. Olympias' family, the Aeacidae, claimed descent from Neoptolemus, son of Achilles.

These medallions were minted by Roman emperors as gifts for high-ranking officers and officials at the Alexandrian Olympic games, held in Macedonian cities such as Veria (225-250 AD).

Thessaloniki Archaeological Museum. Inv. No. MΘ 4304.

The Bode Museum, Berlin also has several of these medallions, including one of Olympias, three types with different portraits of Alexander and one with a portrait of Emperor Caracalla.

41. Olympias and Cassander

Kassander (or Cassander; Greek, Κάσσανδρος Ἀντίπατρος, Kassandros Antipatros; circa 350-297 BC), was the son of Antipater, the regent in Macedonia during Alexander the Great's military campaign in Asia. He and Alexander had been fellow pupils of Aristotle, along with Hephaestion, Ptolemy and Leonnatus (see Olympiadas gallery page 5).

Following Alexander's death in 323 BC, a bitter and bloody struggle for power broke out among his successors (known as the Diadochi). Cassander and Olympias became enemies, and he besieged her at Pydna, below Mount Olympus. Olympias finally surrendered after Cassander promised to spare her life, but he had her tried and executed in 316 BC. Having disposed of most of his competition for the regency, in 305 BC Cassander proclaimed himself king of Macedonia.

Pausanias, Description of Greece, Book 9, chapter 7, section 2. At Perseus Digital Library.

Diodorus Siculus, Library, Book XVII, chapter 118, section 2
and Book XIX, chapters 49-51. At Bill Thayer's LacusCurtius, University of Chicago.

Marcus Junianus Justinus, Epitome of the Philippic History of Pompeius Trogus, Book XIV, chapter 6. At forumromanum.org.

Coin of Cassander
(ruled 316-297 BC).

42. Olympias' tomb at Pydna?

The tomb inscriptions at Makris Giallos, the site of ancient Pydna, associated with Olympias' family members are discussed by Elizabeth Carney in her book Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great.

Elizabeth Donnelly Carney, Olympias: Mother of Alexander the Great (Women of the Ancient World). Routledge, 2006. Excerpts at googlebooks.

43. Strabo: Stageira deserted by the beginning of the first century BC

"The first city on this [Strymonic] gulf after the harbour of the Acanthians is Stageira, the native city of Aristotle, now deserted; this too belongs to the Chalcidians and so do its harbour, Caprus, and an isle bearing the same name as the harbour."

44. Cassander founds Cassandreia and Thessalonike

Cassandreia was to become one of the most powerful cities of Hellenistic Greece. Cassander is thought to have built the canal across the isthmus of the Pallene peninsula (Παλλήνη) north of Cassandreia (see photo below), as the Persian king Xerxes had through the Athos peninsula (see History part 4). Unlike Xerxes' Canal, the Canal of Potidaia is still in use; it was redug in the 1930s.

The modern village of Neo Potidea (Νέα Ποτίδαια) is near the ancient city and the canal, on the isthmus of the western-most of Halkidiki's three southern pensinsulas (otherwise known as "prongs" or "fingers", see the map of Macedonia on page 1 of this guide). This peninsula, today called Kassandra (Κάσσανδρα), was known in ancient times as Pallene.

It seems odd that the 20th century settlers here (as at Olympiada, also refugees from Turkey in the 1920s) named their new home Nea Potidea, reverting to the pre-Cassandreian name, while the peninsula is still carries the name of the Hellenistic city's founder.

"He also founded on Pallene a city called Cassandreia after his own name, uniting with it as one city the cities of the peninsula, Potidaea, and a considerable number of the neighbouring towns. He also settled in this city those of the Olynthians who survived, not few in number. Since a great deal of land, and good land too, was included within the boundaries of Cassandreia, and since Cassander was very ambitious for the city's increase, it quickly made great progress and became the strongest of the cities of Macedonia."

Diodorus Siculus, Library, Book XIX, chapters 52 and 61, at LacusCurtius, University of Chicago.

The Potidea Canal (Διώρυγα της Ποτίδαιας, Dioryga tis Potidaias) was cut through the narrowest part of the Kassandra peninsula (Κασσάνδρα; ancient name Παλλήνη, Pallene), the westernmost prong of Halkidiki. The canal, around 1.2 kilometres long, 40 metres wide and 8 metres deep, connects the Thermaic Gulf (on which Thessaloniki stands) in the west with the Toronaic Gulf (Τορωναίος Κόλπος, Toroneos Kolpos; also known as Κόλπος Κασσάνδρας, Kolpos Kassandras, the Gulf of Kassandra) in the east.

It runs east to west, immediately north of the modern village of Nea Potidea (Νέα Ποτίδαια) which was built in the 1920s by Greek refugees from northwestern Turkey. The village stands on the site of the ancient Corinthian colony Potidaia (Ποτίδαια), destroyed by King Phillip II of Macedonia in 356 BC, and rebuilt in 316-315 BC by Cassander who renamed it Cassandreia (Κασσάνδρεια, Kassandreia). See the location of Potidaea (Cassandreia) on the map of Halkidiki in History part 8.

It is thought that Cassander also built the canal, although there is no documentary record or archaeological evidence for this. The only ancient mention of the canal is by the geographer Strabo (Στράβων, Strabon; 64/63 BC – circa 24 AD):

"After Thessaloniceia come the remaining parts of the Thermaean Gulf as far as Canastraeum; this is a headland which forms a peninsula and rises opposite to Magnetis. The name of the peninsula is Pallene; and it has an isthmus five stadia in width, through which a canal is cut. On the isthmus is situated a city founded by the Corinthians, which in earlier times was called Potidaea, although later on it was called Cassandreia, after the same King Cassander, who restored it after it had been destroyed."

Strabo, Geography, Book 7, fragments, fragment 25a. At Perseus Digital Library.

Very little archaeological excavation has been undertaken here, although there have been several chance finds. Remains of ancient defensive walls can still be seen on the side of the canal at Nea Potidea. The canal appears to have been in use for some time after Cassander's rule, and it is known to have been used as a defensive barrier by Greek fighters in 1821 during the Greek War of Independence. It was redug 1935-37, and during the construction work archaeologists exploring the area discovered a large amount of varied material, mostly architectural remnants.

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